Systems and Methods for Reducing Standby Power in Floating Body Memory Devices

ABSTRACT

Methods, devices, arrays and systems for reducing standby power for a floating body memory array. One method includes counting bits of data before data enters the array, wherein the counting includes counting at least one of: a total number of bits at state 1 and a total number of all bits; a total number of bits at state 0 and the total number of all bits; or the total number of bits at state 1 and the total number of bits at state 0. This method further includes detecting whether the total number of bits at state 1 is greater than the total number of bits at state 0; setting an inversion bit when the total number of bits at state 1 is greater than the total number of bits at state 0; and inverting contents of all the bits of data before writing the bits of data to the memory array when the inversion bit has been set.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos.61/844,832, filed Jul. 10, 2013 and 61/846,720, filed Jul. 16, 2013,both of which are hereby incorporated herein, in their entireties, byreference thereto.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to semiconductor memory technology. Morespecifically, the invention relates to a semiconductor device utilizingan electrically floating body transistor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Semiconductor memory devices are used extensively to store data. Memorydevices can be characterized according to two general types: volatileand non-volatile. Volatile memory devices such as static random accessmemory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) lose data that isstored therein when power is not continuously supplied thereto.

A DRAM cell without a capacitor has been investigated previously. Suchmemory eliminates the capacitor used in the conventional 1T/1C memorycell, and thus is easier to scale to smaller feature size. In addition,such memory allows for a smaller cell size compared to the conventional1T/1C memory cell. Chatterjee et al. have proposed a Taper Isolated DRAMcell concept in “Taper Isolated Dynamic Gain RAM Cell”, P. K. Chatterjeeet al., pp. 698-699, International Electron Devices Meeting, 1978(“Chatterjee-1”), “Circuit Optimization of the Taper Isolated DynamicGain RAM Cell for VLSI Memories”, P. K. Chatterjee et al., pp. 22-23,IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, February 1979(“Chatterjee-2”), and “DRAM Design Using the Taper-Isolated Dynamic RAMCell”, J. E. Leiss et al., pp. 337-344, IEEE Journal of Solid-StateCircuits, vol. SC-17, no. 2, April 1982 (“Leiss”), which are herebyincorporated herein, in their entireties, by reference thereto. Theholes are stored in a local potential minimum, which looks like abowling alley, where a potential barrier for stored holes is provided.The channel region of the Taper Isolated DRAM cell contains a deepn-type implant and a shallow p-type implant. As shown in “A Survey ofHigh-Density Dynamic RAM Cell Concepts”, P. K. Chatterjee et al., pp.827-839, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. ED-26, no. 6, June1979 (“Chatterjee-3”), which is hereby incorporated herein, in itsentireties, by reference thereto, the deep n-type implant isolates theshallow p-type implant and connects the n-type source and drain regions.

Terada et al. have proposed a Capacitance Coupling (CC) cell in “A NewVLSI Memory Cell Using Capacitance Coupling (CC) Cell”, K. Terada etal., pp. 1319-1324, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. ED-31,no. 9, September 1984 (“Terada”), while Erb has proposed StratifiedCharge Memory in “Stratified Charge Memory”, D. M. Erb, pp. 24-25, IEEEInternational Solid-State Circuits Conference, February 1978 (“Erb”),both of which are hereby incorporated herein, in their entireties, byreference thereto.

DRAM based on the electrically floating body effect has been proposedboth in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate (see for example “TheMultistable Charge-Controlled Memory Effect in SOI Transistors at LowTemperatures”, Tack et al., pp. 1373-1382, IEEE Transactions on ElectronDevices, vol. 37, May 1990 (“Tack”), “A Capacitor-less 1T-DRAM Cell”, S.Okhonin et al., pp. 85-87, IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 23, no. 2,February 2002 (“Okhonin”) and “Memory Design Using One-Transistor GainCell on SOI”, T. Ohsawa et al., pp. 152-153, Tech. Digest, 2002 IEEEInternational Solid-State Circuits Conference, February 2002 (“Ohsawa”),which are hereby incorporated herein, in their entireties, by referencethereto) and in bulk silicon (see for example “A one transistor cell onbulk substrate (1T-Bulk) for low-cost and high density eDRAM”, R. Ranicaet al., pp. 128-129, Digest of Technical Papers, 2004 Symposium on VLSITechnology, June 2004 (“Ranica-1”), “Scaled 1T-Bulk Devices Built withCMOS 90 nm Technology for Low-Cost eDRAM Applications”, R. Ranica etal., 2005 Symposium on VLSI Technology, Digest of Technical Papers(“Ranica-2”), “Further Insight Into the Physics and Modeling ofFloating-Body Capacitorless DRAMs”, A. Villaret et al, pp. 2447-2454,IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 52, no. 11, November 2005(“Villaret”), “Simulation of intrinsic bipolar transistor mechanisms forfuture capacitor-less eDRAM on bulk substrate”, R. Pulicani et al., pp.966-969, 2010 17^(th) IEEE International Conference on Electronics,Circuits, and Systems (ICECS) (“Pulicani”), which are herebyincorporated herein, in their entireties, by reference thereto).

Widjaja and Or-Bach describes a bi-stable SRAM cell incorporating afloating body transistor, where more than one stable state exists foreach memory cell (for example as described in U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2010/00246284 to Widjaja et al., titled “SemiconductorMemory Having Floating Body Transistor and Method of Operating”(“Widjaja-1”) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0034041,“Method of Operating Semiconductor Memory Device with Floating BodyTransistor Using Silicon Controlled Rectifier Principle” (“Widjaja-2”),which are both hereby incorporated herein, in their entireties, byreference thereto). This bi-stability is achieved due to the appliedback bias which causes impact ionization and generates holes tocompensate for the charge leakage current and recombination. Duringoperation as a bi-stable SRAM, the floating body transistor memory cellstores charge in the floating body in order to achieve two stablestates. In a low stable state or state 0 the floating body is at a lowstate or discharged to some voltage such as 0 v. In a high stable stateor state 1 the floating body is charged to a higher stable state such as0.5V. The low stable state will consume little to no standby powerbeyond a typical NMOS transistor sub threshold leakage. The high stablestate however will consume a standby current since a vertical bipolar isenabled to counter any leakage to the floating body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, a method of reducing standbypower for a floating body memory array having a plurality of floatingbody memory cells storing charge representative of data is provided,including: counting bits of data before data enters the array, whereinsaid counting comprises counting at least one of: a total number of bitsat state 1 and a total number of all bits; a total number of bits atstate 0 and the total number of all bits; or the total number of bits atstate 1 and the total number of bits at state 0; detecting whether thetotal number of bits at state 1 is greater than the total number of bitsat state 0; setting an inversion bit when the total number of bits atstate 1 is greater than the total number of bits at state 0; andinverting contents of all the bits of data before writing the bits ofdata to the memory array when the inversion bit has been set.

In at least one embodiment, the floating body memory cells comprisebi-stable SRAM floating body memory cells.

In at least one embodiment, the method further includes outputtingcontents of the bits of data from the memory array, wherein the methodfurther comprising inverting the bits of data from the memory arrayprior to the outputting when the inversion bit has been set.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a system forreducing standby power is provided, the system including: a memory arraycomprising a plurality of floating body memory cells configured to storecharge representative of data; a controller configured to controloperations of the system; an inversion bit configured to be set toindicate when an inversion of bit data has been performed; a counter anddetector configured to count bits of the data before the data enters thearray, wherein the counting comprises counting at least one of: a totalnumber of bits at state 1 and a total number of all bits; a total numberof bits at state 0 and the total number of all bits; or the total numberof bits at state 1 and the total number of bits at state 0, and todetect whether the total number of bits at state 1 is greater than thetotal number of bits at state 0; wherein when the total number of bitsat state 1 is greater than the total number of bits at state 0, thecontroller sets the inversion bit; and contents of all the bits of dataare inverted before writing the bits of data to the memory array whenthe inversion bit has been set.

In at least one embodiment, the system further includes a page bufferthat receives the data from the counter and detector, buffers the data,and inputs the data to the memory array.

In at least one embodiment, the inversion bit is checked by thecontroller, prior to reading the data out of the array, wherein theinversion bit has been set, the data from the memory array is invertedto restore the data to its state prior to the previous inversion.

In at least one embodiment, the system is configured so that multiplepages, words or bytes of data can share the inversion bit, wherein uponidentifying the need to perform a data inversion, any subsets of thedata having been previously written to the array are inverted by readingback the subsets having been previously written, inverting and rewritingthe subsets back to the array.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of reducing standbypower for a floating body memory array having a plurality of floatingbody memory cells arranged in a column and row configuration for storingcharge representative of data is provided, the method including:identifying at least one row or column of cells storing data that is nolonger needed; and setting each of the cells in the at least one row orcolumn to state 0.

In at least one embodiment, the at least one row or column stores dataredundantly.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of reducing standbypower for a floating body memory array having a plurality of floatingbody memory cells configured with DNWell nodes that can be powered tomaintain a high potential in the floating body by a vertical bipolarholding mechanism is provided, the method including: performing at leastone of: periodically pulsing a source line of the array; periodicallypulsing a bit line of the array; periodically floating the source line;or periodically floating the bit line; wherein the periodically pulsingcomprises cyclically applying a pulse of positive voltage to the sourceline or bit line to turn off the vertical bipolar holding mechanism; andremoving the positive voltage between the pulses to turn on the verticalbipolar holding mechanism.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method of tracking thestate of a floating body memory cell for turning on and off a verticalbipolar holding mechanism to ensure that a state of the floating bodymemory cell is maintained is provided, the method including: providing areference cell that measures a potential level of the floating body ofthe floating body memory cell; providing a high level floating bodypotential detector and a low level floating body potential detector;inputting the potential level of the floating body to the high and lowlevel floating body potential detectors; receiving output signals fromthe high and low level floating body potential detector by a controller;and controlling a voltage regulator to control a voltage level input toa source line, bit line or DNWell line of the floating body memory cellto turn off or turn on the vertical bipolar holding mechanism based uponinput signals received from the high level floating body potentialdetector and the low level floating body potential detector.

In at least one embodiment, when the low level floating body potentialdetector inputs a signal to the controller indicating that apredetermined low potential has been measured, the controller controlsthe voltage regulator to increase the voltage level input to the sourceline or bit line to turn on the vertical bipolar holding mechanism; andwhen the high level floating body potential detector inputs a signal tothe controller indicating that a predetermined high potential has beenmeasured, the controller controls the voltage regulator to turn off thevoltage level input to the source line or bit line to turn off thevertical bipolar holding mechanism.

In at least one embodiment, when the low level floating body potentialdetector inputs a signal to the controller indicating that apredetermined low potential has been measured, the controller controlsthe voltage regulator to turn off the voltage level input to the DNWellline to turn on the vertical bipolar holding mechanism; and when thehigh level floating body potential detector inputs a signal to thecontroller indicating that a predetermined high potential has beenmeasured, the controller controls the voltage regulator to increase thevoltage level input to the DNWell line to turn off the vertical bipolarholding mechanism.

In at least one embodiment, the method further includes providing aplurality of the DNWell lines, source lines or bit lines; connecting theplurality of DNWell lines, source lines or bit lines with a plurality ofequalization transistors; inputting a signal to the plurality ofequalization transistors to turn on the equalization transistors toequalize charge among the plurality of the DNWell lines, source lines orbit lines, prior to the controlling the voltage regulator; and turningoff the equalization transistors prior to the controlling the voltageregulator.

In another aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor memory arrayconfigured for reducing standby power is provided, the array including:a plurality of floating body memory cells configured to store chargerepresentative of data; and at least two floating body cells seriallyconnected to form a reference cell; wherein current conducted throughthe at least one of the plurality of floating body memory cells isreduced to a fraction of the current when passing through the referencecell.

In at least one embodiment, the at least two floating body cells of thereference cell are set to state 1.

In at least one embodiment, the reference cell is used for at least oneof: a current reference, a voltage reference or a monitor of transientresponse to bit line discharge.

In another aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor memory arrayconfigured for reducing standby power is provided, the array including:a plurality of floating body memory cells configured to store chargerepresentative of data; and at least two more of the floating bodymemory cells interconnected by a segmented source line to form areference cell.

In at least one embodiment, a plurality of the reference cells isconnected in a dedicated column or row of the array and to differentrows or columns of the floating body memory cells configured to storecharge representative of data; and a dedicated reference bit line isconnected to the plurality of reference cells.

In at least one embodiment, a plurality of the reference cells isconnected to different rows or columns of the floating body memory cellsconfigured to store charge representative of data; and source isolationdevices are connected between the reference cells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional illustration of a floating body SRAM memorycell according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data input operation utilizing a powersaving data inversion scheme for floating body SRAM memory cellsaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a data output operation utilizing a powersaving data inversion scheme for floating body SRAM memory cellsaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section illustration of a floating body SRAM memorycell with a P+ contact to observe the floating body voltage according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a power reduction voltage regulation schemeutilizing source line bias according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing the potential behavior of thefloating body during a power reduction voltage regulation cycleaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram of the floating body, comparator outputsand the regulator inputs according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a power reduction voltage regulation schemeutilizing DNWell bias according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a waveform diagram of the floating body, comparator outputsand the regulator inputs according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a charge sharing technique to be used withalternating DNWell supplies according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation of an array using reference cellseach comprising two floating body semiconductor cells in series,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of an array using reference cellseach comprising two floating body semiconductor cells in series,according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation of an array using reference cellseach comprising two floating body semiconductor cells in series indedicated reference columns, according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of an array using reference cellseach comprising two floating body semiconductor cells in series, whereinall reference cells can be simultaneously set to state 1 in a singlestep, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic representation of an array using reference cellseach comprising more than two floating body semiconductor cells inseries, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic representation of the array of FIG. 15 applied toa dedicated bit line orientation according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a modified controller thatimplements data state counting and data inversion in addition to itsnormal array control functions, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before the present methods, schemes and devices are described, it is tobe understood that this invention is not limited to particularembodiments described, as such may, of course, vary. It is also to beunderstood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescribing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to belimiting, since the scope of the present invention will be limited onlyby the appended claims.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that eachintervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unlessthe context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lowerlimits of that range is also specifically disclosed. Each smaller rangebetween any stated value or intervening value in a stated range and anyother stated or intervening value in that stated range is encompassedwithin the invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller rangesmay independently be included or excluded in the range, and each rangewhere either, neither or both limits are included in the smaller rangesis also encompassed within the invention, subject to any specificallyexcluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes oneor both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those includedlimits are also included in the invention.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of the present invention, the preferred methodsand materials are now described. All publications mentioned herein areincorporated herein by reference to disclose and describe the methodsand/or materials in connection with which the publications are cited.

It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, thesingular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “afloating body” includes a plurality of such floating bodies andreference to “the memory cell” includes reference to one or more memorycells and equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art, and soforth.

The publications discussed herein are provided solely for theirdisclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Thedates of publication provided may be different from the actualpublication dates which may need to be independently confirmed.

Widjaja and Or-Bach describes a bi-stable SRAM cell incorporating afloating body transistor, where more than one stable state exists foreach memory cell (for example as described in U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2010/00246284 to Widjaja et al., titled “SemiconductorMemory Having Floating Body Transistor and Method of Operating”(“Widjaja-1”) and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0034041,“Method of Operating Semiconductor Memory Device with Floating BodyTransistor Using Silicon Controlled Rectifier Principle” (“Widjaja-2”),which are both hereby incorporated herein, in their entireties, byreference thereto). This floating body SRAM memory cell device is formedfrom an NMOS device with a Deep NWell (DNWell) layer to isolate thep-type well of the NMOS transistor. FIG. 1 shows a memory cell 50 wheredata (in the form of charge/potential) is stored within the floatingbody 24. The typical bias of the DNWell 22 will be at a high potentialsuch as Vdd while the source 16 and drain 18 voltage are typically at alow potential such as 0 v or ground. For state 0, the floating body 24is at a low potential, such as, but not limited to 0V. In this state,the floating body SRAM cell 50 acts like a normal transistor and has nostandby current besides the standard transistor sub-threshold drain tosource leakage. A source line 72 is connected to source 16 and a bitline 74 is connected to drain 18. A DNWell line 76 is connected toDNWell 22. DNWell 22 is supported by substrate 12 and a substrate line78 is connected to substrate 12. Insulators 26 insulate the floatingbody 24, source 16 and drain 18 from the floating bodies 24, sources 16and drains 18 of adjacent cells. A gate 60 is provided for input to thefloating body 24 via word line 70. A dielectric layer 62 is positionedbetween the gate 60 and the floating body 24.

For state 1, the floating body 24 will be at a high stable potential,such as, but not limited to 0.5V. Vertical bipolar devices betweenDNWell 22 and source 16 and drain 18 will turn on to counter any leakagefrom the floating body 24. However in return this leakage will cause anactive standby current. Methods and techniques described within thisinvention will show how to reduce standby power.

In an array operation typically data will be stored 50% as state 0 and50% as state 1. However in situations where the data is not symmetrical,an additional inversion flag bit can be provided which indicates thatthe data within the page, byte or row has been inverted to reduce powerconsumption for the floating body SRAM memory cell 50. Additionalcircuitry can be provided during the write data operations to count thenumber of cells 50 at state 1. If the number of cells 50 at state 1exceeds 50% of the total number of cells 50 providing data for the page,byte or row, the write circuitry can set the inversion flag and invertthe data prior to a writing operation.

FIG. 2 shows an example of how a block could be designed to use aninversion bit. As data comes into the page buffer 202, adetector/counter 204 is placed before the data can enter the page buffer202. This detector 204 can detect and count the state of the incomingbits. The counter 204 then keeps track of how many bits are either atstate 1 or state 0. Optionally, counter 204 could also keep track ofboth state 0 and state 1 bits. Prior to writing to the array, thecounter 204 can detect if the number of bits at state 1 exceeds thenumber of bits at state 0. If the state 1 bits are greater in numberthan the state 0 bits, the inversion bit 206 can be set through signal212 and a signal or command 210 can be sent to the page buffer 202 toinvert the contents of the page buffer 202 prior to writing the datainto the array 200. Since the inversion bit 206 now contains the datawhich determines the polarity of bits within the page/word/byte buffer202, the inversion bit 206 must also be stored in the array along withthe data itself. Line 216 provides the polarity of the page/word/bytebuffer 202 and increases the data size by one bit. Note that theoperation described above can also occur at a more granular level suchas a byte or word, however there is an added cost as the increasedgranularity of the inversion detection will also increase the totalnumber of inversion bits 206 used within the array.

Upon read back of the data within the array the inversion bit 206 mustfirst be checked before data is output as shown in FIG. 3. The inversionbit is routed from the array to the inversion bit register 206 throughline 316. If the inversion bit 206 is set, the data from the arrayrequires an inversion prior to outputting the data out of the array. Theinversion bit 206 status can be sent to either the page buffer 202 orthe bit detector/counter block 204 to signal through signal 312 andindicate to the block 202 or 204 to perform a data inversion prior todata being sent out of the array through 314.

The system could also be designed so that multiple pages, words or bytescould reference a single shared inversion bit 206. However uponidentifying the need to perform a data inversion, the previously writtendata subsets would require a data inversion. For example this couldapply on the chip level. Once it was determined that the number of bitsin the state 1 status exceeded 50%, a data inversion could beimplemented for all the incoming data. At the same time, the systemwould have to recognize previously written pages and implement a datainversion on those pages. This data inversion on previously writtenpages could be implemented as a background operation. For example if a256 bit page was set to utilize a single inversion bit and after writinghalf of the page, the data was determined to be more than 50% in state1, the remaining half page will be written with inverted data. Theprevious half page must have its data inverted so during idle time thepreviously written data could be read back, inverted and the re-writtenback to the array.

A controller may be modified to implement the data state counting anddata inversion in addition to its normal array control functions asshown in FIG. 17. 1701 is the controller block which now contains thelogic or algorithm to count the state 1 bits and can implement a datainversion. The data is sent out to the page buffer through bus 1708 andinversion bit is sent out of the controller through line 1709 to theinversion bit buffer 1704. The controller outputs address 1705 and wordline/source/DNWell control signals 1706 in addition to bit line controlsignals 1707.

Another method in which power could be saved would be in a situationwhere the system determines that data within the row or column of anarray is no longer needed. Often times such rows are simply left aloneto be overwritten at a later time or an expiration flag bit is set toindicate the contents of the row have expired and/or are no longervalid. In these cases, in order to conserve power in a floating bodySRAM array these rows/columns of unused data can all be set to state 0.As mentioned before, since the vertical bipolar is not activated with alow floating body potential voltage, the leakage current from thefloating body SRAM device is significantly reduced if unused rows,columns or bits are set to state 0.

This power saving technique can extend to other types of floating bodySRAM array constructs such as dummy columns, dummy rows, redundantcolumns, redundant rows and redundant blocks. In all cases, when thedata element is either not being actively used or does not contain anyvalid data, their contents can be all set to state 0 in order toconserve power within the floating body SRAM array. This can beimplemented with minimal design impact by using a common line such as asource line (for redundant rows, blocks and dummy rows) and pulsing thesource line negative to implement a write 0 operation. For redundantcolumns or dummy columns this could be implemented by pulsing the bitline negative to implement a write 0. These conditioning operationswould ideally be implemented during or shortly after power up.Additional options would include but are not limited to implementing thepreconditioning upon first read or write command, implementing thepreconditioning upon a dummy command after power up, implementing thepreconditioning during a reset command after power up.

Yet another method to save power in a floating body SRAM array would beto temporarily disable the vertical bipolar holding mechanism byperiodically pulsing the source line or bit line high or periodicallyhave the source line or bit line floating. Referring back to FIG. 1, atstandby the source line 72 and bit line 74 for a floating body SRAMarray is kept at ground to ensure there are vertical bipolar devicesbetween source 16 and the DNWell 22 node and between drain 18 and theDNWell 22 node to hold a high potential in the floating body 24 if thefloating body SRAM is set to state 1. Without the vertical bipolarholding mechanism, the floating body SRAM cell 50 will act as acapacitor. During this time, the charge in the floating body 24 willslowly discharge, but at the same time, the power typically consumed bythe vertical bipolar holding mechanism to preserve power will also besuspended. When electrically floated, the source line 72 or bit line 74will eventually charge up through the vertical bipolar holding mechanismuntil the source line 72 or bit line 74 voltage is high enough to turnoff the vertical bipolar holding mechanism. Note also that in thistechnique, the source line 72 can also be electrically floated insteadof being driven to a high potential such as Vdd or 1.2V.

As an example, the bit line 74 can be floated or driven to a highpotential such as Vdd or 1.2V to disable the vertical bipolar holdingmechanism and the source line 72 can be cycled to conserve power in thefloating body SRAM cell 50. In this example, the source line 72 can bealternated between a low potential such as 0V or ground and highpotential such as Vdd or 1.2V to repeatedly disable and re-enable thevertical bipolar holding mechanism. As mentioned previously, the sourceline 72 driver in this case could also be electrically floated insteadof being actively driven to Vdd or 1.2V in order to disable the verticalbipolar holding mechanism. Those skilled in the art will understand thatthe source and drain terminals of a transistor device can be easilyinterchanged, and accordingly in this invention the source line 72 andbit line 74 terminals can also be interchanged but is not shown.

In using this technique it is important that the vertical bipolarholding mechanism be restored before the floating body SRAM cells 50that were previously at state 1 drop below the transition point betweenstate 1 and state 0. To ensure that this threshold is properly detecteda reference scheme utilizing a floating body reference cell can beprovided. The reference cell 250 shown in FIG. 4 was described byWidjaja in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0217549. Thereference cell in FIG. 4 is identical to a normal floating body memorycell with the addition of line 73 which connects to p+ node 17 thatdirectly connects to the p+ floating body 24. The p+ connection 17 tothe floating body provides a direct measurement of the floating bodypotential. Utilizing this reference cell 250, the voltage of thefloating body 24 can be tracked, and two level detectors can be used toenable a reference supply

FIG. 5 is a block diagram detailing a tracking operation as referred toin FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Twolevel detectors 504, 506 are shown which connect the reference cell P+connection 73 through line 514. One level detector 504 is set to detecta high floating body potential. A second level detector 506 is set todetect a low floating body potential. Those skilled in the art willunderstand that there are a variety of methods to implement thesedetectors such as but not limited to using operational amplifiers, senseamplifiers or differential amplifiers. Possible methods to create thereference side of the detectors 504 and 506 include but are not limitedto voltage dividers, bandgap voltages, voltage divided bandgap voltages,transistor resistor dividers, etc.

A control block 502 takes the input from detectors 504 and 506 throughsignals 516 and 518. The output 512 of control block 502 drives theenablement of the source standby voltage regulator/driver 500. Thepossible outputs of this standby regulator 500 range from a lowpotential such as ground/0V to a high output which can be as high asVdd. Standby source regulator 500 can also float the source line bydisconnecting all supplies. The regulator 500 is enabled when driving ahigh potential or when electrically floating. When disabled theregulator 500 will drive a low potential such as 0V. A possible but nonlimiting method to implement control block 502 is by using an SR (SetReset) Latch which may be composed by a pair of cross coupled NOR orNAND gates. In this exemplary implementation, the floating body lowvoltage detector 506 can be connected to the reset pin of the SR latchto reset or disable the voltage regulator in order to force the sourceline 510 to ground, restoring the vertical bipolar holdingmechanism/device for maintaining the state of the floating body 24 SRAM.This in turn would start to restore the floating body 24 voltage to ahigher potential. Once the floating body 24 reaches the trip point ofthe high detector 504, the control block 502 sets the SR latch to causethe source line 510 to be driven high or electrically floated thusdisabling the vertical bipolar holding mechanism, which in turn disablesthe bi-stability of the floating body 24 SRAM and removes any associatedstate 1 standby leakage current. When the source line voltage 510 ishigh or electrically floated, the floating body 24 voltage discharges.Eventually when the floating body 24 discharges to the FB Low Regulatortrip, the source standby voltage regulator 500 will be again disabled bythe control block 502 via input from the floating body low detector 506which drives the source line 510 voltage low and re-establishes thevertical bipolar holding mechanism and the floating body 24 SRAMbi-stability. This cycle of events can repeat indefinitely to helpimprove standby power consumption. Additional logic is needed to combinethis operation with normal array operations such as read and write, butthis logic can be easily understood and realized by those skilled in theart.

An exemplary graph of the floating body 24 voltage including high andlow detect levels, according to an embodiment of the present invention,is provided in FIG. 6. Starting from the left side of the graph,initially the standby regulator 500 is outputting a ground voltage 601which actively turns on the vertical bipolar holding mechanism in thefloating body SRAM memory cells 50. Once the floating body 24 reachesthe floating body high regulator detect level 604, the standby sourceregulator 500 drives the source voltage high, thus disabling thevertical bipolar holding mechanism in the floating body SRAM memory cell50. Note that the standby source regulator 500 can alternativelyelectrically float the source line 72 to disable the vertical bipolarholding mechanism. The floating body 24 at this point discharges like acapacitor 608 until the floating body 24 voltage reaches the floatingbody low regulator detect level 602. At this point the standby sourceregulator 500 is again driven to ground and the vertical bipolar holdingmechanism within the floating body SRAM memory cell 50 is restored thusre-enabling the bi-stability of the floating body cell 50. FB Trip Point606 represents the voltage at which the FB Memory cell will lose itsstate 1 data. The FB Low Regulator Det Level 602 is purposely set avoltage higher than 606 in order to prevent loss of data.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of how the output 516 from the floatingbody high detector block 504, the output 518 from the floating body lowdetector block 506 and the regulator enabled (Reg En) signal 512 mayappear, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note thatthis logic waveform is for exemplary purposes only and not meant tolimit the scope of this invention. Prior to the operation illustrated inFIG. 7, a write 1 operation has already occurred, and thus the floatingbody 24 is at a high potential, see 526. Once the floating body 24reaches the upper regulation point, the high level detector (HV Det Out)signal 516 goes high (see 520), enabling the Reg En signal 512 at 522.This causes the source line 510 to be driven high (or floated), see 524,and disables the vertical bipolar holding mechanism of the floating bodySRAM memory cell 50. At this point, the floating body 24 acts as acapacitor with the bi-stability temporarily disabled. Accordingly, dueto the capacitive discharge the HV Det Out signal 516 also goes low (see528) as the floating body voltage drops below the high level detectortrip point. However, since it was connected to the set pin of the SRLatch, the Reg En Signal 512 remains high. Once the floating body 24reaches the low level detector level 602, the floating body low leveldetector block 506 trigger that the floating body voltage has droppedlow by raising the low level detector (LV Det Out) signal 518 high, see530. The Reg En signal 512 is driven low (see 532) which in turn drivesthe source line 510 back to ground, see 534. This restores the verticalbipolar holding mechanism of the floating body SRAM memory cell 50 anddrives the floating body voltage back high. As the floating body 24charges back up, the LV Det Out signal 518 turns off again, see 536. Thecycle will repeat itself as the floating body 24 charges back up to thepoint where the high detector block 504 again enables the output 518.

Note that the above figures and examples all are using the sourceterminal (510, 72) for the power saving technique. As mentionedpreviously, this same technique can be alternately applied to the bitline 74 instead of the source line 72. In these cases the source line 72will be driven to a high state or electrically floated while the bitline 74 is alternated between a low potential such as ground or 0V toenable the vertical bipolar holding mechanism, and either electricallyfloated or actively driven to a high potential such as Vdd or 1.2V todisable the vertical bipolar holding mechanism.

Alternatively the vertical bipolar holding mechanism of the floatingbody SRAM memory cell 50 can be disabled by pulling the DNWell terminal22 of FIG. 1 to a low potential less than Vdd such as 0.6V, 0V orground, or left floating. This power reduction scheme was first detailedby Widjaja in U.S. Pat. No. 8,130,548. The regulation scheme identifiedin FIG. 5 can then be adapted based on this alternate principle of usingthe DNWell to disable the vertical bipolar holding mechanism. The resultof this alternate technique using the DNWell bias is shown in FIGS. 8and 9, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The DNWellline 76, 810 is typically at a high potential during standby as shown inFIG. 9. In comparison, the source line voltage in FIG. 5 is typically ata low potential during standby. Because of this, the inputs to thecontrol block 802 for the standby voltage regulator 800 have to beinverted for the DNWell case as is shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. When thefloating body high detector 804 triggers, it sends a signal 816 to thecontrol block which in turn signals the standby regulator 800 throughline 812 to drive the DNWell 22 via DNWell line 76, 810 to a lowerpotential such as but not limited to 0.6V, 0V or ground, or leftfloating. Conversely when the floating body low detector 806 triggers,the control block 802 is notified through signal 818 which in turnsignals 800 through the Reg En signal 812 so that the DNWell 22 isdriven back to a high potential such as 1.2V or Vdd to restore thebi-stable behavior of the floating body SRAM memory cell 50

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of how the output 816 from the floatingbody high detector block 804, the output 818 from the floating body lowdetector block 806 and the regulator enabled (Reg En) signal 812 mayappear, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note thatthis logic waveform is for exemplary purposes only and not meant tolimit the scope of this invention. Prior to the operation illustrated inFIG. 8, a write 1 operation has already occurred, and thus the floatingbody 24 is at a high potential, see 826. Once the floating body 24,814reaches the upper regulation point, the high level detector (HV Det Out)signal 516 goes high (see 520), setting the Reg En signal 812 at 822.This causes the DNWell line 810 to be driven low, see 824, and disablesthe vertical bipolar holding mechanism of the floating body SRAM memorycell 50. At this point, the floating body 24 acts as a capacitor withthe bi-stability temporarily disabled. Accordingly, due to thecapacitive discharge the HV Det Out signal 816 also goes low (see 828)as the floating body voltage drops below the high level detector trippoint. However, since it was connected to the reset pin of the SR Latch,the Reg En Signal 812 remains high. Once the floating body 24 reachesthe low level detector level 602, the floating body low level detectorblock 806 triggers that the floating body voltage has dropped low byraising the low level detector (LV Det Out) signal 818 high, see 830.The Reg En signal 812 is driven low (see 832) which in turn drives theDNWell line 810 back to ground, see 834. This restores the verticalbipolar holding mechanism of the floating body SRAM memory cell 50 anddrives the floating body voltage back high. As the floating body 24charges back up, the LV Det Out signal 818 turns off again, see 836. Thecycle will repeat itself as the floating body 24 charges back up to thepoint where the high detector block 804 again enables the output 818.

An additional method in which to conserve energy according to anembodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 10. In thisembodiment, there are a plurality of FB Memory cells represented by1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1006. Word lines 1020 and 1036 represent twoindependent word lines of unspecified length. Source lines arerepresented for each rows with signal 1022 and 1030 which may or may notbe electrically shorted together. The FB Memory cell substrate isrepresented by 1024 and 1032, but typically these will be shorted to thesame potential. Two separate and independent DNWell signals are shown at1026 and 1034. Transistors 1007 and 1008 are equalization transistorswhich will connect DNWell signals 1026 and 1034 when signal 1028 isasserted. Note only two equalization transistors 1007, 1008 are shown,but those skilled in the art will understand that a plurality of thesedevices may be necessary based on the resistance, capacitance and lengthof DNWell lines 1026 and 1034. DNWell signals on DNWell lines 1026 and1034 are set so that they are opposite one another in polarity so thatwhen 1026 goes low to disable the vertical NPN (bipolar holdingmechanism) and conserve power, signal 1034 is driven high to restore thevertical bipolar holding mechanism and restore the floating body 24 toits proper stable state. Prior to having signal 1026 and 1034 changestates, DNWell signals 1026 and 1034 can be floated so they are notactively driven. At that point signal 1028 can be temporarily assertedso it will charge share or equalize signals 1026 and 1034. For exampleif signal 1026 was initially at a high potential such as 1.2V and 1034was initially a low potential such as 0V, assuming nodes 1026 and 1034are equal in capacitance when 1028 is asserted with a high potentialsuch as 1.8V, the nodes 1026 and 1034 will equalize via charge sharingto 0.6V. Note that the voltages identified above are for exemplarypurposes only and not meant to limit the scope or range of thisinvention. By charge sharing, DNWell signal 1034 which was initiallyground, goes to 0.6V using charge initially stored in DNWell signal1026. Since DNWell signal 1034 will go to a potential next phase, halfthe energy in the transition between the low potential and highpotential will be conserved due to the charge sharing equalizationbetween the two DNWell nodes. Once the equalization between DNWellsignals 1026 and 1034 is complete, 1028 will go low in order to turn offthe equalization transistors 1007, 1008. At this point the drivers onsignal 1026 and 1034 can be asserted to drive the respective nodes totheir desired states. As DNWell nodes 1026 and 1034 will continuallyalternate between going high and low, this equalization technique can beused at every transition. Note that only two rows and two DNWell signalsare shown in FIG. 10, however those skilled in the art will understandthat a plurality of rows, blocks or columns of floating body memorycells can have this energy saving technique applied over a plurality ofDNWell signals

The charge sharing technique described in regard to FIG. 10 can also beapplied to a plurality of source lines 72 or a plurality of bit lines 74instead of to the DNWell terminal 76, 810. In all cases, a plurality ofequalization transistors will be required between the alternatingelements. For example, if a plurality of source lines 72, 510 are usedto disable the vertical bipolar holding mechanism, signals can bealternated between half of the source lines 72, 510 and equalizationtransistors can be provided between alternating source lines 72, 510.Between transitions of alternating source lines 72, 510, the sourcedrivers are temporarily floated, equalization transistors are turned onto equalize all source lines 72, 510, after which equalizationtransistors are disabled, and after that the source drivers would againbe enabled.

In all of the above charge sharing techniques, the point at which tostart the transition between alternating signals is not trivial. Apossible non limiting method in which to trigger the alternatingtransition is to only look at the floating body SRAM reference celldetectors in those floating body SRAM cells 50 that have had theirvertical bipolar holding mechanisms disabled. The cells 50 that have hadthe vertical bipolar holding mechanism disabled are then controlled asdescribed previously to allow the floating body 24 of each of thesecells 50 to capacitively discharge. Once the floating bodies 24 of thereference cells 250 have dropped to a set safety point, like thefloating body Low Regulator Det Level 602 in FIG. 6, the swap involtages can be set to occur between alternating signals 1026 and 1034.The detectors on 1034 would be ignored since they have their verticalbipolar holding mechanism enabled. For example, in FIG. 10 if DNWellsignal 1026 is at a low potential or electrically floating, the devices1001, 1002 and 1003 have their vertical bipolar holding mechanismsdisabled. A floating body reference cell 250 with detector block can beattached to the same DNWell line 1026 while the detector on DNWellsignal 1034 would be ignored. Once the floating body 24 has dropped to adetermined minimum safe operating voltage where state 1 can be safelyheld with margin then a voltage swap operation can be executed betweenalternating DNWell signals. In this example signal 1026 can be drivenback high while 1034 is driven low or electrically floated. Beforedriving the signals 1026 and 1034 the charge sharing technique would beimplemented. The above example uses the DNWell for exemplary purposesonly. As mentioned previously the source terminals and bit lineterminals can also be pulsed to implement power saving techniques. Thoseskilled in the art will understand that the method to initiatetransition between alternating signals can be easily applied to thoseconstructs as well. An alternate method to implement this scheme wouldbe to disable all the high voltage detects in all of the reference cell250 voltage detect blocks. Thus only the low floating body voltageswould be detected.

An alternative technique to trigger a charge sharing and voltage swapoperation is to monitor both alternating signal floating body voltagesand initiate the charge sharing swap operation based on the firstvoltage to hit its target regulation voltage. For example, in FIG. 10 ifDNWell signal 1026 is at a low potential or electrically floating, itstrigger point would be based on the floating body Low Regulator DetectLevel (see 602 on FIG. 6), while signal 1034 would be based on theFloating Body High Regulator Det level (see 604 on FIG. 6). Whichever ofthese signals reaches their target value first would trigger a chargeswap operation and cause the DNWell signals swap between alternatingDNWell signals.

Other possible methods to implement a charge sharing operation andvoltage swap between alternating supply lines could include but are notlimited to: fixed time delay, variable delay based on temperature,variable delay based on programmable trims, and using only a highvoltage detect level on the floating body reference cells 250.

A diagram of another embodiment of the present invention is shown inFIG. 11. Devices 100, 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110 are all floating bodySRAM cells of the same width and length. Lines 134, 124 and 126 are wordline connections to the gate of the floating body memory cells. Lines136 and 128 are considered source line connections to the FB Memorycell. 140 and 132 are the DNWell connection to the FB Memory cells and138 and 130 are the substrate connection for the DNWell memory cells. Asmentioned previously, floating body SRAM cells have two stable states.In a low potential state or state 0, the floating body 24 is neutrallycharged. In this case, the floating body SRAM cell will behave like anormal transistor. In a high potential case or state 1, the floatingbody 24 will be positively charged. In this case the horizontal bipolarholding mechanism will be enabled due to the positively charged floatingbody 24 and this device will be strongly turned on unless a lowpotential such as 0V or a negative voltage is applied to the gateterminal. Devices 100, 104, 102, and 106 are configured to be floatingbody reference cells while devices 108 and 110 are exemplary memorycells (like memory cell 50 described with regard to FIG. 1, or someother floating body memory cell configuration) meant to represent memorycells in a memory array. Reference cells 100, 104,102 and 106 arephysically identical to the normal floating body memory cells 108 and110; however they are electrically connected differently. Devices 100and 104 are configured to be a single reference cell and are connectedserially. Both devices 100 and 104 will be set to state 1 when operatingas a reference cell. In a serial connection the current conductedthrough the floating body SRAM cells 100, 104 will be reduced toapproximately half of the normal floating body SRAM cell current due tothe effective length of the serial connection being doubled compared toa single cell configuration such as 110. Thus since 100 and 104 canconduct about half the current of a normal device such as 110, thismakes the arrangement an ideal reference cell 100, 104 which can trackprocess variations, temperature variations and voltage variations withthe array memory cells.

A non-limiting method according to an embodiment of the presentinvention to set reference cell 100 to state 1 includes setting bitlines 120 to a high potential, such as, but not limited to 0.8V, 1.2V orVdd, while also setting word lines 124 and 126 to a high potential like0.8V, 1.2V or Vdd. Source line 128 is at a low potential such as 0V orground. These bias conditions cause impact ionization on the drain ofdevice 100 which in turn cause holes to be injected into device 100.After enough holes are injected, the floating body SRAM cell 100 will beset to state 1. Cell 104 will not be set to state 1, since the voltageon its source or drain terminals will not be high enough to induceimpact ionization. Note that bit line 122 could also have been takenhigh at the same time that bit line 120 was set high, and this wouldhave allowed the simultaneous setting of cells 100 and 102 to state 1.

To set floating body SRAM cell 104 to state 1, the voltage conditionsbetween source and bit line can be reversed. In this case bit line 120is set to 0V, while source line 128 is set to a high potential, such as,but not limited to 1.2V. Word lines 124 and 126 will again be taken to ahigh potential such as 0.8V, 1.2V or Vdd. This will then cause impactionization on device 104 (and 106, when bit line 122 is also set to 0V).Again holes will be injected into the floating body of device 104 (and106) until it is set to state 1. Other methods to set floating bodydevices to state 1 but not shown here are also available, such as, butnot limited to: gate coupling, DNWell to floating body p-n junctionbreakdown, source to floating body p-n junction breakdown and drain tofloating body p-n junction breakdown. The example identified here wasmeant for exemplary purposes only and is not meant to limit the scope ofthis invention. Terminal 130 is the substrate connection to the floatingbody SRAM cells 100, 102, 104, 106. For the intents of this invention,this voltage will be always assumed to be a low voltage such as 0V orground. Terminal 132 is the DNWell connection to the floating body SRAMcells 100, 102, 104, 106. For the intent of this invention, thisterminal will always be driven to a high voltage such as 0.8V, 1.2V orVdd unless mentioned otherwise. Lines 134 is the word line or gateconnection for a plurality of floating body memory cells. Line 136 is asource line connected to a plurality of floating body memory cells. Line138 is the Substrate connection to a plurality of floating body memorycells. Line 140 is the DNWell connection to a plurality of floating bodymemory cells.

Methods to utilize reference cell (100, 104 and/or 102, 106) can vary asthose skilled in the art will appreciate. Pluralities of floating bodyserial reference cells can be used in rows or columns within an array.These reference cells may also be used in dedicated reference columns,dedicated reference rows, or combinations of both dedicated columns androws. Possible methods to utilize this reference cell in senseapplications include, but are not limited to: using the reference cellas a current reference, using the reference cell as a voltage reference,and using the reference cell as a transient response to the bit linedischarge. An exemplary method to utilize this reference cell as acurrent reference would be to connect a sense amplifier or detector tobit line 120 and have it drive out a fixed voltage. Word lines 124 and126 will be driven to a high potential such as 1.2V or Vdd. The voltageon this word line would ideally be identical to the voltage applied to anormal array word line. The reference bit line 120 will be driven to ahigh potential such as 0.8V, 1.0V, 1.2V or Vdd. Source line 128 will beat a low potential such as 0V or ground. This will cause a referencecurrent which is about half of the normal cell current to flow from bitline 120 to source line 128. With the reference current being set atabout half of the normal cell current, it becomes an ideal reference forany sense amplifier/detector circuit. Note that the embodiment in FIG.11 would require that when this reference cell is in use, none of theword lines attached to this same reference bit line be active at thesame time. Thus this embodiment is optimally used in a multiple bankarchitecture where one bank can be used as a reference and while activedata is read out from another bank as the selected bank.

An alternative method which would allow for operation within a singlebank has dedicated reference bit lines in which the memory cells in thearray can be disabled via potential methods such as but not limited to:floating the gates of the memory cells within the reference bit line,floating the sources of the memory cells within the reference bit line,floating the gates and sources of the memory cells within the referencebit line, floating the drain contacts for the memory cells within thereference bit line, grounding the gates of the memory cells within thereference bit line, applying a negative voltage to the memory cellswithin the reference bit line.

In a single bank architecture, an additional modification must also bemade such that non-reference bit lines could disable the referencecells. Methods to disable reference cells in non-reference bit linesinclude, but are not limited to: grounding the gates of the referencecells in non-reference bit lines; disconnecting drain contact toreference cells in non-reference bit lines; forcing 0V or a negativevoltage to shut off reference cells in non-reference bit lines;disconnecting the gates and sources of reference cells; disconnectinggates, source and drain of reference cells. Simply not printing thereference cells on non-reference bit lines is also another option butmay have ramifications with layout and yield.

An alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 12.Device pair 1200 and 1202 comprise a reference cell. A second referencecell is also shown comprising devices 1204 and 1206. Cells 1210, 1212,1214 and 1216 are floating body SRAM memory cells shown here forexemplary purposes. This embodiment is desirable because the differencesand changes between the floating body SRAM memory cells in the array andthe reference cells are minimized. The only difference between thereference cells and the memory cells is the segmented source lines 350and 352. This minimal amount of change between the memory cells andreference cells is highly desirable since it minimizes the potential foroffsets and variations between the memory cell and the reference cell. Anon-limiting example for how this reference cell can be utilized is asfollows: bit line 240 can be connected to a sense amplifier/detectorblock and drive out a high potential such as Vdd, 1.2V or even someother high potential such as 1.0V or 0.8V. Bit line 242 is set to a lowpotential such as ground or 0V and acts as the ground for this referencepair. Word line 220 is driven to a high potential such as 0.8V, Vcc or1.2V. DNWell line 222 is, as usual, kept at a high potential such as0.8V, 1.2V or Vdd. Substrate line 224 is, as usual, kept at a lowpotential such as ground or 0V. Sense blocks can be placed on either bitline 240 or 242. As the previous example mentioned above in FIG. 11, thesense/detect block can be placed on the bit line 240 and also supply thehigh potential to generate a reference current/voltage. Alternatively,or additionally, the sense block could be placed on bit line 242 andcould also supply the low potential if desired. For uses in which datadetected has a small margin between states, wherein there is an elevatedrisk of error for distinguishing between states, multiple sense blocksmay be implemented, but this is a limited use case, as it adds to thecost of production. Note that this embodiment requires two bit lines tobe used per reference cell. Word lines for the memory cells attached tothe same bit line should not be active when using these reference cells.Also note that the bias conditions on bit lines 240 and 242 can alwaysbe freely swapped so that bit line 242 can supply a high potential whilebit line 240 would supply the low potential. Devices 210, 211, 214, and216 are for exemplary purposes and are exemplary in nature showing how aplurality of normal floating body memory cells may be placed next to thereference cells. Terminal 230, 232, 234 and 238 and lines 230, 232, 234,and 236 are the normal floating body memory cell's gate, source, DNWellsubstrate connections respectively. Bit lines 248 and 244 are providedfor exemplary purposes and meant to show how a plurality of columnsusing this reference cell will be connected

In order to set the reference cell 200, 202 to state 1 in thisembodiment, the bit line 240 can be driven to a high potential such asVdd or 1.2V while the opposing bit line 242 is set to a low potentialsuch as ground or 0V. Word line 220 can then be driven to a high voltagesuch as 0.8V, 1.0V, Vdd or 1.2V. This will induce impact ionization ondevice 200 which will inject holes into the floating body 24 of device200. This will in turn set the device to state 1. The bit lineconditions can be reversed between bit line 240 and 242 in order to setdevice 202 to state 1. Another benefit to the embodiment shown in FIG.12 is exemplified when using the serial reference cells in dedicatedreference columns as shown in FIG. 13. Note that this implementation ismeant for exemplary purposes only and not meant to limit the scope ofthis invention. This reference structure shown in this embodiment caneasily be applied in both dedicated row and dedicated columnapplications. Those skilled in the art will understand that with properbias control, it is entirely possible to use this embodiment innon-dedicated rows and columns as well, intermingled with memory cells.Operation of this embodiment is virtually identical to the embodimentshown in FIG. 12. In this embodiment, 310 and 312 comprise a referencepair of floating body SRAM devices and 300 and 302 comprise a secondpair of floating body reference cells. The benefit using this embodimentin conjunction with a dedicated reference bit line is that the same wordline that activates the main array memory cells will also be applied tothe reference cells. This removes any potential for any sort of wordline driver mismatch such as but not limited to voltage mismatch, timingmismatch, and device mismatch.

FIG. 13 shows yet another possible method in which the reference cellscan be organized. In this embodiment the reference cells 1310/1312 and1300/1302 are arranged in columns. Word line 1330, source line 1332,DNWell 1336 and substrate connection 1344 are shared between referencecell 1310, 1312 and normal floating body memory cells 1314 and 1316.Word line 1320, Source 1326, Substrate 1322 and DNWell 1324 are sharedbetween reference cells 1300, 1302 and normal floating body memory cells1304 and 1306. Floating body memory cells 1314, 1316, 1304, 1306 andtheir respective bit lines 1344 and 1348 are meant to exemplify how aplurality of additional memory cells can be organized with thisconfiguration of reference cells.

Another embodiment is shown in FIG. 14. This embodiment improves on theprevious embodiment shown in FIG. 12 by reducing the amount of time ittakes in order to set the reference cells to state 1. In thisembodiment, all reference cells can be simultaneously set to state 1 ina single step rather than requiring a two-step process like the previousembodiment shown in FIG. 12. Source isolation devices 1450, 1452 and1454 have been added and repeated between each grouping of referencecells. During normal operation, these source isolation transistors areoff, and line 1440 will be at a low potential such as ground or 0V.These reference devices will then function identically to the embodimentshown in FIG. 12. However, when setting the references devices 1400,1402, 1404 and 1406 to state 1, the source isolation devices 1450, 1452,and 1454 will be enabled, while source line 1426 is driven to a lowpotential such as ground or 0V. Bit lines of the reference cells thatare to be set to state 1 will then be driven to a high voltage such asVdd or 1.2V. Word line 420 will be then taken to a high potential suchas 0.8V, 1.0V, 1.2V or Vdd. This will cause impact ionization for eachof the reference cells and in turn set all the reference cells to state1 in a single operation. Methods to set these serial reference cells tostate 1 are not limited to only using impact ionization but also includebut are not limited to: gate coupling; source/drain p-n junctionbreakdown to floating body; DNWell to floating body p-n junctionbreakdown.

Note that the example in FIG. 14 only shows 2 serial reference celldevice pairs 1400/1402 and 1404/1406 simultaneously. In FIG. 14 signals1430, 1432, 1434 and 1436 represent the respective word line, sourceline, substrate and DNWell connection to normal floating body memorycells 1410, 1412, 1414 and 1416. Bit lines 1442, 1444, 1444, and 1448are shared between normal floating body memory cells and the referencecell pairs of 1400, 1402 and 1404, 1406. Line 1420 is the word line orgate connection of the reference cells. Line 1426 is the reference cellsource line. 1422 is the reference cell substrate and 1424 is thereference cell DNwell. Line 1440 is the control for the isolationdevices 1450, 1452 and 1454. Those skilled in the art will realize thatthis example is for exemplary purposes only and not meant to limit thisinvention. A plurality of serial reference cell device pairs can be usedalong with a plurality of source isolation devices. FIG. 14 also depictsa dedicated reference word line, however those skilled in the art willunderstand that this embodiment can easily be applied to dedicatedreference bit lines. For example to apply this concept toward FIG. 13,additional devices would be required to connect segmented source line1352 to segmented source line 1350. Additional devices would then berequired to connect these segmented source lines with the all theremaining segmented source lines within the same reference column. Thisin turn creates a vertical source similar to 1426 which could bepossibly used in a single operation reference line write.

Yet another embodiment is shown in FIG. 15. In this embodiment aplurality of floating body SRAM cells are added to the reference chain,i.e., more than two floating body SRAM cells are serially connected tomake a reference cell. Adding additional floating body SRAM cells to thechain further reduces the current through the reference cells. Forexample, if three reference cells are used in series, the referencecurrent will be cut to about one third of the normal cell current. Thisallows for the selectivity of reference current that is less than halfthe original SRAM cell current. This may be desirable in cases wherethere are large cell to cell variations in current and the referencelevel needs to be lowered in order to provide sufficient read margin forreliable operation. In FIG. 15 cells 1500 a to 1500 z are floating bodymemory cells connected serially in order to create a reference cell.1528 is the source line for the serial string of floating body memorycells. 1530 is the shared substrate connection for this serial string.1532 is the DNWell connection for the serial string. 1502 a through 1502z is an identical string of serially connected floating body memorycells connected to create a reference cell. It also shares the samesource line 1528, DNWell connection 1532 and the same substrateconnection 1530. 1524 a to 1524 z are the gate or word line connectionsfor the serially connected floating body memory cell devices. Floatingbody memory cells 1508 and 1510 are for exemplary purposes indicatinghow normal floating body memory cells can share the same bit lines 1520and 1522 as the reference cells. Note that this embodiment is notlimited to dedicated bit lines, dedicated source lines, and can befreely used in any array orientation. An example of how this could beapplied to a dedicated bit line orientation is shown on FIG. 16. In thisembodiment 1600, 1602 and 1604 comprise a reference string of threereference cells and the reference current supplied by this string willbe about one third of the normal cell current. Bit lines 1642 and 1644are dummy bit lines which have no connection and would only be left infor yield improvement purposes. Floating body SRAM cells 1610, 1612 and1614 comprise a second string of reference cells. Cells 1606 and 1616are normal floating body SRAM array cells (memory cells) and areprovided for demonstrative purposes. Note that although FIG. 16 showsreference cells with three serial devices, the number of cells used ismeant for exemplary purposes only and not meant to limit the scope ofthis invention. Those skilled in the art will understand that aplurality of floating body SRAM devices greater than three can be usedwithin these reference strings.

A non-limiting method to set the devices in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 to state1, according to an embodiment of the present invention, involves usingimpact ionization on the floating body cells adjacent to the source andbit line signals. This can be implemented as described in previousembodiments where high potentials such as but not limited to 0.8V, 1.0V,1.2V or Vdd can independently be used on the drain 1520/1522, and gate1524 a, 1524 b, 1524 z while the source 1528 would be drive to a lowerpotential. This set of bias conditions would cause impact ionization toset device 1500 a to state 1. The device 1500 z connected to the source1528 could be set by reversing the biases just described and placing ahigh potential on the source 1528 while using a low potential on the bitline 1520 or 1522. Interior cells such as 1500 b, could be set usingimpact ionization by setting the unselected cell word lines to a highenough potential such that the transistor body effect will not limit thevoltage passed to the drain of device 1500 b and other subsequentinterior devices. For example 1524 a could be set to 2.0V, while the bitline 1520 could be set to a voltage such as 1.0V. Assuming the Vt of thetransistor is less than 0.5V, the full 1.0V would be passed from the bitline 1520 to the drain of device 1500 b. Normal gate conditions toinduce impaction ionization such as 0.8V, 1.0V, 1.2V or Vdd can be usedon the gate of internal reference cells. Note that this example is fordemonstrative purposes only and not meant to limit this invention, othermethods to set the floating body SRAM cells to state 1 are availablewhich include but are not limited to: gate coupling; DNWell to floatingbody p-n junction breakdown; source to floating body p-n junctionbreakdown; and drain to floating body p-n junction breakdown.

The above embodiments were all presented for electrically floating bodytransistors fabricated on bulk silicon comprising of buried well region(electrically connected to the DNWell terminal). However this inventionand all of the above embodiments may also be applied to other floatingbody memory cell technologies such as that fabricated on silicon oninsulator (SOI) substrate, for example as described by Tack, Okhonin,and Ohsawa. In the case of the floating body memory cell fabricated onSOI, the DNWell implant may not be available and the SOI floating bodymemory cell may not be bi-stable with two stables states. Instead theSOI floating body memory cell may decay similar to a capacitor like thatof a DRAM cell. However this invention would still provide a reliablereference cell that could track process, temperature, and voltagevariations.

While the present invention has been described with reference to thespecific embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may besubstituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of theinvention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation, material, composition of matter, process, processstep or steps, to the objective, spirit and scope of the presentinvention. All such modifications are intended to be within the scope ofthe claims appended hereto.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A semiconductor memory array configured forreducing standby power, said array comprising: a plurality of floatingbody memory cells each having at least two stable floating body chargelevels, wherein said floating body charge levels are maintained by avertical bipolar holding mechanism; and means for periodically turningoff and on said vertical bipolar holding mechanism to reduce standbypower of said floating body memory cells.
 22. The semiconductor memoryarray of claim 21, wherein each of said plurality of floating bodymemory cells further comprises a floating body region having a firstconductivity type selected from a p-type conductivity type and an n-typeconductivity type.
 23. The semiconductor memory array of claim 22,wherein each of said plurality of floating body memory cells furthercomprises a back-bias region having a second conductivity type selectedfrom said p-type conductivity type and said n-type conductivity type,wherein said second conductivity type is different from said firstconductivity type.
 24. The semiconductor memory array of claim 23,wherein applying a back-bias to said back-bias region results inmaintenance of said stable floating body charge levels.
 25. Thesemiconductor memory array of claim 24, wherein said back-bias is aconstant positive voltage bias.
 26. The semiconductor memory array ofclaim 24, wherein said back-bias is a periodic pulse of positivevoltage.
 27. The semiconductor memory array of claim 21, furthercomprising at least one reference cell to determine a period for saidperiodically turning off and on said vertical bipolar holding mechanism.28. The semiconductor memory array of claim 27, further comprising leveldetectors to determine said stable floating body charge levels.
 29. Asystem for reducing standby power, said system comprising: a pluralityof floating body memory cells each having at least two stable floatingbody charge levels, wherein said stable floating body charge levels aremaintained by a vertical bipolar holding mechanism; and a controllerconfigured to periodically turning off and on said vertical bipolarholding mechanism to reduce standby power of said floating body memorycells.
 30. The system of claim 29, wherein each of said plurality offloating body memory cells further comprises a floating body regionhaving a first conductivity type selected from a p-type conductivitytype and an n-type conductivity type.
 31. The system of claim 30,wherein each of said plurality of floating body memory cells furthercomprises a back-bias region having a second conductivity type selectedfrom said p-type conductivity type and said n-type conductivity type,wherein said second conductivity type is different from said firstconductivity type.
 32. The system of claim 31, wherein applying aback-bias to said back-bias region results in maintenance of said stablefloating body charge levels.
 33. The system of claim 32, wherein saidback-bias is a constant positive voltage bias.
 34. The system of claim32, wherein said back-bias is a periodic pulse of positive voltage. 35.The system of claim 29, further comprising at least one reference cellto determine a period for said periodically turning off and on saidvertical bipolar holding mechanism.
 36. The system of claim 35, furthercomprising level detectors to determine said floating body chargelevels.